SETTING THE STAGE: After a tough two-point home loss to James Madison, Towson will look to rebound on the road Tuesday as the Tigers travel to Northeastern. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. from Matthews Arena and can be heard live on WNST-AM (1570).

AMONG THE CAA’S BEST ON THE GLASS: After owning an impressive 49-19 rebounding advantage against James Madison on Saturday, Towson now ranks third in the CAA with a +1.6 rebounding margin per game. The Tigers have outrebounded eight of their last nine opponents, a span that includes games against Drexel, VCU (twice), George Mason and Old Dominion (the top four teams in the conference). On the offensive glass, Towson has been even more impressive. The Tigers average 13.5 offensive rebounds per game and grab 38.7 percent of their missed shots. Both of those numbers rank second among CAA teams.

IMPROVING FROM THE LINE: Towson shot 19-for-25 from the free throw line against James Madison on Saturday. The 76 percent shooting clip is the best of the season from the line for the Tigers. Senior Robert Nwankwo has been perhaps the most-improved Tiger from the charity stripe. The forward has made 12 of his last 18 attempts after starting the year shooting just 47.4 percent from the line. Nwankwo leads Towson with 85 made free throws.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES: After a hot start in CAA play, Northeastern has dropped four straight and six of its last eight. The Huskies, who topped Towson, 57-48, on January 2, has an 11-14 overall record and a 7-8 mark in league games. The Huskies are led by Jonathan Lee, who averages 14.2 points per game. In addition to Lee, who ranks ninth in the CAA in scoring, Northeastern has seen stellar play from rookie Quincy Ford. The freshman averages 11.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He exploded for 21 points in Northeastern’s last game, a road loss against William & Mary.

LAST TIME OUT: Despite outrebounding James Madison by a remarkable 49-19 margin and rallying from an 18-point deficit, Towson dropped a 58-56 Colonial Athletic Association battle to JMU on Saturday. Senior Robert Nwankwo posted his 11th double-double of the season with 15 points and a season-high 15 rebounds. Nwankwo’s prior season best in rebounds was 14 at UMass. Sophomore forward Marcus Damas scored in double digits for the 18th time this season. He finished the game with 14 points and six rebounds in 37 minutes of action. Damas, who is among the CAA leaders in three-pointers made, shot three of eight from beyond the arc.

UP NEXT: Towson will play in its BracketBuster game on Saturday, Feb. 18 at New Hampshire. The game is slated to tip at 3 p.m. from Lundholm Gymnasium in Durham, N.H.

ON AIR: Wednesday’s game can be seen live on ESPN3 with Greg Burton handling the play-by-play duties and Rodney Ashby providing analysis. The CAA clash can also be heard live on WNST with Spiro Morekas and Vince Angotti calling all the action.

SETTING THE STAGE: The Tigers will take on a VCU squad that has won nine straight games and sits atop the Colonial Athletic Association standings. By the end of Wednesday night, Towson will have played each of the top four teams in the league standings twice.

MR. DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Towson senior forward Robert Nwankwo has registered double-doubles in six of his last eight games and now has 10 on the year. Nwankwo’s 10 double-doubles ranks fourth in the CAA and 25th in the nation.

MARVELOUS MARCUS: Sophomore forward Marcus Damas has been playing his best basketball as of late. Damas, who ranks in the Top 20 in the CAA in scoring, rebounding, three-point field goal percentage and minutes played, is averaging 17.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in his last three games. He’s the only Towson player to score over 20 points in a game this season with his 25-point effort against George Mason in December and his career-high 26-point game against Drexel this past Saturday.

KRIS ASSIST: Tiger freshman Kris Walden dished out a season-high 10 assists against Drexel on Saturday and the point guard now ranks fifth in the CAA averaging 3.6 assists per game. Walden averaged 9.0 points, 8.0 assists and 2.5 steals in a pair of games last week. The freshman also ranks 13th in the league in steals and seventh in minutes played.

SCOUTING THE RAMS: VCU has won nine straight games, including a 67-42 win over the Tigers in the Towson Center just two weeks ago. Senior Bradford Burgess leads the Rams in scoring at 12.2 points per game. Junior guard Darius Theus leads the league dishing out 4.8 assists per game while freshman guard Briante Weber paces the conference in steals with 2.4 per contest. VCU boasts the second ranked scoring offense in the league (67.7 ppg) and the third best scoring defense (59.0 ppg allowed). The Rams also lead the CAA with 9.9 steals per game.

OFFENSIVE GLASS: Wednesday’s game will matchup two of the top three offensive rebounding teams in the CAA. VCU averaged 13.2 offensive boards per game which is good enough for second in the league. Towson is just behind in third with 13.0 offensive rebounds per game and the Tigers rank second in the CAA grabbing 37.2 percent of their offensive misses. Towson is one of just two teams in the conference (Georgia State) to have three individuals rank in the Top 20 in the league in rebounding (Nwankwo, Damas, Gumbs).

LAST TIME OUT: Led by sophomore Marcus Damas, who scored a career-high 26 points, Towson flirted with a remarkable upset before Drexel escaped the Towson Center with a 65-57 victory on Saturday night. Damas hit a season-high six three-pointers on 11 attempts and his 26 points were the most scored by a Tiger this season. Towson shot 40 percent from beyond the arc against a Drexel defense that entered the game as the nation’s top three-point field goal percentage defense (25.3 percent). The Dragons had also won 17 straight rebounding battles until the Tigers controlled the glass, 34-30, tonight. Despite Towson’s efficiency from beyond the arc and on the glass, Drexel won its 11th consecutive game.

Maryland begins a road-heavy February with a trip to south Florida to face Miami. The matchup features a pair of teams in a three-way tie for sixth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 3-3 records prior to Tuesday’s games (Clemson is the third team at 3-3). The Terrapins face six road games in the month of February against only three home contests, including a return match against the Hurricanes on Feb. 21.

The Terrapins snapped a three-game losing streak with a 73-69 victory last Saturday against Virginia Tech. Sophomore guard Terrell Stoglin scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half to lead the Terrapins and post his 14th 20-point game of the season. Maryland is 10-4 when Stoglin scores 20 points or more in a game. Stoglin is sixth in the nation in scoring through last Sunday’s games with a 21.3 ppg average. He is one of only 14 players who were averaging 20 points or better in the Division I statistics.

Senior guard Sean Mosley added 15 points against the Hokies on Saturday, including a 5-for-5 performance at the foul line. Mosley is now 19 points away from becoming the 50th Terrapin in history with 1,000 career points. He is in line to become only the eighth Terrapin in history to combine 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 120 steals in a career. He hit the 3,000-minute plateau with his 32-minute effort on Saturday against Virginia Tech.

The schedule also stiffens in terms of competition for the Terrapins from this point on, as only three of Maryland’s final 10 games are against teams above 70 in the RPI. Five games are against nationally ranked teams down the stretch.

Scouting the Hurricanes

After winning back-to-back conference road games, Miami is 12-7 this season with a 2-2 mark in the ACC… Under the direction of Jim Larranaga, who is in his first season at Miami after a 14-year stint at George Mason, the Hurricanes have an 8-2 home record.

Senior guard Malcolm Grant leads the team in scoring with 13.2 ppg and is one of four Hurricanes averaging double figures… Junior guard Durand Scott (12.6 ppg), junior forward/center Kenny Kadji (12.5 ppg) and junior center Reggie Johnson (10.1 ppg) are the others… Grant also ranks sixth in the ACC in 3-point FG percentage (.347) and as a team, the Hurricanes are second in the conference (.368).

Johnson, who earned All-ACC honorable mention accolades a year ago after averaging 11.9 points per game and 9.6 rebounds per game, leads the team in rebounding again with 6.7 rpg… Kadji, a 6-foot-11 native of Cameroon, has a team-high 35 blocks including 3.0 bpg in conference play.

Upcoming

Following the trip to Miami on 2/1, the Terps then return home to face nationally ranked North Carolina on 2/4…

The Terps will then play five of their next seven on the road… Maryland has only three home games and six road contests in February.

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SETTING THE STAGE: Towson and Virginia Commonwealth will both be playing their third game in five days tonight. The Tigers, coming off a pair of competitive games at CAA-leading George Mason Saturday and at Delaware Monday, are still seeking their first victory of the season. The Rams finished fourth in the CAA a year ago, but were one of three league schools to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Once there, VCU went on a remarkable run all the way to the Final Four. This season, the Rams are off to a 16-5 record with a 7-2 mark in league play. The Tigers and Rams will meet again in just two weeks in Richmond.

CRASHING THE BOARDS: Towson has outrebounded its opponents in three consecutive games, including matchups against Old Dominion and George Mason, which both rank in the Top 5 of the CAA in rebounding margin. Towson has been especially aggressive on the offensive glass, corralling 37.0 percent of its offensive misses, a mark that ranks second in the league. The Tigers are one of just three CAA teams (Drexel, Georgia State) to have three players rank in the Top 20 in the league in rebounding. Senior Robert Nwankwo and sophomores Marcus Damas and Erique Gumbs are each in the Top 20 with Nwankwo ranking fourth in the league at 8.7 rebounds per game. Early in the season, Towson outrebounded Kansas, which is ranked No. 5 in the latest national polls.

DOUBLE FIGURE DAMAS: Sophomore forward Marcus Damas has scored in double figures in 11 of his last 14 games and ranks in the Top 20 in the CAA in both scoring and rebounding. Damas tallied 19 points at George Mason Saturday and posted a game-high 16 points at Delaware Monday to lead the Tigers in scoring in both contests.

LAST TIME OUT: Towson trailed by just two at halftime, but Delaware outscored the Tigers 38-21 in the second half to capture a 62-43 CAA victory Monday evening at the Bob Carpenter Center. Senior Robert Nwankwo was just one point shy of his fourth consecutive double-double as the forward scored nine points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Nwankwo also blocked two shots to become just the third player in Towson history to block 200 career shots.

SCOUTING THE RAMS: Virginia Commonwealth has won five straight games since dropping back-to-back league contests against Georgia State and Drexel earlier this month. The Rams are led by senior Bradford Burgess and sophomore Juvonte Reddic. Burgess leads VCU in scoring with 13.0 points per game while Reddic averages 10.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest. The Rams are among the leaders in the CAA in both scoring offense (67.7 ppg) and scoring defense (59.0 ppg).

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ON AIR: Monday’s game can be seen live on ESPN3 with John Sadak handling the play-by-play duties and legendary Towson coach Vince Angotti providing analysist. The CAA clash can also be heard live on WNST with Spiro Morekas calling all the action.

SETTING THE STAGE:The Towson men’s basketball team will be playing its second game in three days Monday as the Tigers make the short trip to Newark, Del. to take on the Blue Hens. The Tigers put up a valiant effort in a 72-60 loss at CAA-leading George Mason Saturday while the Blue Hens upended Georgia State in double overtime in their last game.

MR. DOUBLE-DOUBLE:Towson senior forward Robert Nwankwo has registered double-double’s in each of his last three games and now has seven on the year and 17 in his career. In his last three games, Nwankwo, who is 20th nationally in blocked shots per game, has averaged 14.3 points, 12.0 rebounds and 4.7 blocks per game.

SCOUTING THE BLUE HENS:Delaware enters Monday with an 8-10 overall record and a 4-4 mark in CAA play. The Blue Hens are coming off a thrilling 77-74 double overtime win over Georgia State on Saturday. UD is led by sophomore guard Devon Saddler and junior forward Jamelle Hagins. Saddler is second in the CAA in scoring at 18.6 points per game while Hagins has 11 double-doubles on the year and leads the leauge with 11.4 rebounds per game.

LAST TIME OUT:Playing its third straight game against a team that was leading the CAA, Towson nearly pulled off a major upset before George Mason held on for a 72-60 victory over the Tigers at the Patriot Center on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers, who trailed by as many as 18 points early in the second half, had pulled to within 63-58 when George Mason sophomore guard Sherrod Wright nailed a clutch three-point basket with 1:35 remaining enabling the Patriots to avoid the upset. Towson sophomore Marcus Damasled the Tigers with 19 points and seven rebounds. Senior forward Robert Nwankwo posted his third consecutive double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Nwankwo, who ranks 20th nationally in blocked shots, had three rejections against Mason. Freshman Deon Jones was just one rebound shy of his second double-double of the year as the guard tallied 13 points and grabbed nine boards.

ON AIR: Saturday’s game can be seen live on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic with John Castleberry handling the play-by-play duties and Ron Thompson providing analysist. The CAA clash can also be heard live on WNST with Spiro Morekas and Vince Angotti calling all the action.

SETTING THE STAGE: The Towson University men’s basketball team will play its third straight game against a team that is in first-place at the time of the contest as the Tigers travel to George Mason Saturday. The Tigers are looking for their first win of the year while the Patriots have won seven of their last eight contests. Both squads are in the midst of playing five games in just 11 days.

TOP FRESHMAN: Tiger point guard Kris Walden is the top ranked freshman in the CAA with 3.4 assists per game. The Richmond, Va. native, who is averaging 6.0 assists per contest in his last three outings, is seventh overall in the conference in assists.

TOP 20 NATIONALLY: Tiger senior forward Robert Nwankwo ranks second in the CAA and 20th nationally with 2.6 blocks per game. He’s averaging 4.8 blocks per game in his last four contests and is coming of back-to-back double-double performances against Georgia State and Old Dominion.

FAMILIAR FOE: Saturday’s game will be the 39th all-time meeting between Towson and George Mason. The Tigers have only played nine teams more often in their history.
The only other current CAA teams Towson has played more often is Delaware (65), Drexel (58) and Hofstra (55).

SCOUTING THE PATRIOTS: George Mason has won seven of its last eight games and is tied with Old Dominion at the top of the CAA standings. Senior Ryan Pearson leads the Patriots in both scoring (17.8 ppg) and rebounding (8.5 rpg). The forward tallied a game-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Mason’s win against Delaware on Wednesday. George Mason leads the CAA averaging 71.5 points per game. As a team the Patriots shoot 47.5 percent from the floor, a mark that also leads the league. The Patriots are 8-1 at home this season with their only loss coming against Duquesne.

LAST TIME OUT: Towson senior forward Robert Nwankwo recorded his second straight double-double, but his performance wasn’t enough as the Tigers fell to Old Dominion, 71-41, Wednesday evening in the Towson Center Arena. Nwankwo led Towson with 12 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks for his sixth double-double of the season and 16th of his career. Towson tried to combat ODU’s hot shooting by controlling the glass. The Tigers won the battle of the boards, 34-32, against an Old Dominion squad that entered the game second in the CAA with a +5.3 rebounding margin. Towson was hurt though by its 31.3 shooting percentage and 18 turnovers. Freshman Kris Walden dished out six assists in the loss to the Monarchs.

Tigers To Appear on ESPN3 Against Delaware Twice and at Home Verse Drexel

TOWSON, Md. – A trio of Towson University men’s basketball games will be broadcast on ESPN3 in the coming weeks. Both Tiger games against Delaware, on the road this coming Monday (Jan. 23) and at home on February 22, will be aired. A home contest against Drexel on February 4 will also be broadcast live.

Tiger fans can also see Towson take on George Mason on Saturday, Jan. 21 on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Tip time is set for 4 p.m. from the Patriot Center.

Including these additions, the Tigers will have appeared on ESPN3 seven times this season.

SETTING THE STAGE: Towson will play its first CAA road game Wednesday against CAA Preseason favorite Drexel after hosting George Mason and Northeastern in the Tigers’ first two league games. The game, set to tip from the Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia at 7 p.m., can be heard live on WNST-AM (1570).

ROAD WARRIORS: Starting Wednesday, Towson will play three of its next four games on the road.The last time the Tigers were on the road, they played perhaps their best game of the season at No. 23 Virginia. Towson led by as many as eight and the Cavaliers could never extend their advantage to double digits in the game.

FAMILIAR FOE: Towson and Drexel played three times last year and the Dragons eliminated the Tigers from the CAA Tournament with a 75-69 opening round victory. Drexel has won five straight in the series and Towson has not won in Philadelphia since Jan. 12, 2002.

DEFENSE & REBOUNDING: Tiger head coach Pat Skerry has preached defense and rebounding to his players since the start of preseason and lately they have been getting the message. Towson has held three straight opponents to 65 points or fewer and consecutive foes to less than 60 points, including No. 23 Virginia. The Tigers rank sixth in the CAA in both rebounding margin (+1.6) and blocked shots (3.7 bpg). Towson has corralled 39.6 percent of its offensive misses this season, a mark that leads the CAA. Both Robert Nwankwo and Marcus Damas rank in the Top 15 in the CAA in rebounding.

LEADING FRESHMAN: Towson point guard Kris Walden leads all CAA freshmen and ranks ninth in the league in assists per game. Walden is averaging 3.1 dimes per contest.

LAST TIME OUT: Despite a career-high 14 points from sophomore Erique Gumbs, Northeastern pulled out a 57-48 Colonial Athletic Association victory over Towson Monday night. Gumbs, who made five of nine shots from the floor, added six rebounds and two blocked shots to his impressive stat line. Tiger sophomore Marcus Damas added 14 points for his seventh double figure scoring effort in the last eight games. Freshman Jervon Pressley scored a career-high 11 points and had six rebounds in the loss.

Towson outrebounded Northeastern, 36-28, but the Huskies took advantage of 19 Tiger turnovers that they turned into 28 points.

SCOUTING THE DRAGONS: Drexel (8-5, 0-2 CAA) had a six-game winning streak snapped Monday at Georgia State. The Dragons are a perfect 4-0 at home this season, winning by an average of 9.5 points per game. Preseason All-CAA First Team selection Samme Givens leads Drexel in both scoring (12.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.1 rpg). Chris Fouch led Drexel with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting at Georgia State Monday.

The Dragons and Tigers have just one common opponent thus far in the season. Drexel lost to Virginia in the Paradise Jam, 49-35, while Towson lost at Virginia, 57-50 just last week.

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The Caps failed to score a first period goal on the road for the sixth straight game and after 40 minutes they trailed 2-0 to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

So much for using that start fast formula on the road that they’ve used lately at home that I blogged about last night, eh?!

But since Dale Hunter took over behind the bench this Washington Capitals squad has yet to quit in a game, regardless of the deficit and some lineup juggling by the Caps bench boss ignited a three goal in under three minutes explosion in the final frame. Alexander Ovechkin, who scored the first goal for the Caps, then lasered one by Steve Mason (22 saves) to make it 4-2 and Tomas Vokoun (35 saves) closed the door as the Capitals won their third straight game. It was a huge victory and moves the Caps to 20-15-2 overall. They are now just five points behind Southeast Division leading Florida. Washington has two games in hand.

After Columbus did a good job of shutting down Washington’s top line for 40 minutes, Hunter split them up putting Ovechkin with Brooks Laich and Troy Brouwer while Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin added Marcus Johansson on left wing. The move gave the Caps energy and took Columbus off of their game plan. On the back end, the defensemen became extremely active and Dennis Wideman (1 goal, 2 assists) turned in a super period paired with Roman Hamrlik. On Ovechkin’s nail in the coffin on the power play, Dmitry Orlov made an intelligent move carrying the puck down the left wing boards and behind the net drawing the defense to him before slipping a sweet pass to the Gr8 who buried it with authority. Make no mistake about this, Orlov continues to get better and deserves to be up with the big club the rest of the season.

I know I mentioned the standings above, but as I’ve pretty much done since Hunter took over, I have tried to ignore them because this club needed to drastically fix its’ play before it could start rising back to the top of the Eastern Conference. After 15 games in under the Capitals legend the team has totally improved on the backend and now that they have corrected that, the offense, as predicted by Hunter, is coming on. Ovechkin, Semin, and Nicklas Backstrom have bought in defensively and they are really starting to reap big rewards for that. The Gr8 is on fire with four goals in his last two games and has nine points in his last six games. Semin’s goal that tied the game was a thing of beauty and he’s had six solid tilts in a row. Backstrom is the team’s MVP so far this season but he’s even gone to a higher level the last couple of weeks.

Another thing to be really encouraged about is the week Vokoun just had in goal. #29 came on in relief on Monday and stopped 16 of 17 shots then went 3-0 as a starter. Vokoun is making the big save at the right time. 14 seconds after Ovechkin tallied to cut it to 2-1, he made a huge stop on Mark Letestu on a quality chance in the slot. If Letestu scores there the game is over. Instead Orlov and Grant Clitsome go off for roughing shortly thereafter and the Capitals score twice on the four on four. I’ve said this so many times, but everything starts for a team in goal and Washington is finally getting some consistent netminding.

For those who watched the post game press conference with Hunter on Comcast, things looked exactly the same from old number 32 for the 15th time despite the dramatic comeback. It was hard to tell whether the team won or lost and Hunts always seems to be on such an even keel. Clearly his club is feeding off of his consistency behind the bench and his competitive drive is contagious.

Winning in Columbus is still no big feat, that Blue Jackets club is pretty bad. The Caps have a Calgary Flames team home on Tuesday before taking off to the west coast to take on some quality Western Conference talent in San Jose and Los Angeles. We’ll have an even better idea how far the team has come after those contests.

Happy New Year!

Notes: The Blue Jackets second goal should not have counted as referees Brad Meier and Francois St. Laurent missed an obvious interference penalty on Derek Dorsett in front of the Washington net. The Columbus pest shoved John Carlson to the ground with the puck on the boards but no call was made. Terrible work from the zebras…the Caps blocked 22 shots while the Blue Jackets only thwarted five. Assistant Coach Jim Johnson says if Washington blocks between 20 and 25 shots in a game that is a good sign…Hamrlik and Wideman were both +3. #44 looks so much better since returning from an early season groin injury. He is a smart player who is excelling in Hunter’s system…Washington won the faceoff battle, 32-31. Jeff Halpern was 8-3…Jeff Schultz had an awful first period giveaway and only played 9:46…Cody Eakin’s recall did necessitate a player going on injured reserve as I mentioned last night, but instead of Mathieu Perreault, the team retroactively put Mike Green in that capacity to meet the 23 man roster limit.

Towson Men’s Basketball To Face Fifth Team Ranked Or Receiving Votes In National Polls

TOWSON, Md. – The Tigers are set to open Colonial Athletic Association play Saturday evening against rival George Mason. Tip time is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Towson Center and all fans attending the NCAA FCS Football Playoff game at Johnny Unitas® Stadium can attend the Tigers’ men’s basketball game free of charge.

Saturday night’s game can be heard live on AM1570 WNST.net. Coverage begins immediately following the conclusion of the Towson-Lehigh NCAA FCS Playoff game and can be heard here.

Towson (0-6) is coming off an 86-56 setback at UMass on Wednesday evening. Senior Robert Nwankwo posted his third double-double of the season with 19 points and 14 rebounds against the Minutemen.

The Tigers continued to dominate the glass in their last outing, holding a 50-43 rebounding advantage in the loss. Towson has now outrebounded its opponents in all but two games this season.

Including Saturday’s contest, the young Tigers quad will have played five teams ranked or receiving votes in the national polls.

George Mason, which is receiving votes in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, is riding a three-game winning streak and coming off a 61-57 victory over Bucknell. The Patriots are led by Preseason All-CAA First Team honoree Ryan Pearson. The senior ranked in the top-15 of both scoring and rebounding among league players last season, and is the conference’s fifth highest returning scorer. This season Pearson is averaging 20.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.

Saturday’s game will be the 38th all-time meeting between Towson and George Mason. The Tigers won six of the first nine meetings between the squads, but have won just two of the last 28. George Mason has never lost to Towson as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. Their last loss to the Tigers was a 78-71 defeat in Towson in 1993.

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